Loyola University • New Orleans • Volume 97 • Issue 20
M The Maroon March 22, 2019
Senators, students and staff members question SGA President, Sierra Ambrose about her three vetoes, in a heated exchange at a senate meeting on Wednesday, March 20. Senators voted unanimously to overturn Ambrose’s three vetoes. Cristian Orellana / The Maroon.
Senate says ‘no’ to vetoes Funding of Iggy’s Cupboard prompted a bitter fight between SGA branches, culminating in a rare veto override By Erin Snodgrass eesnodgr@my.loyno.edu @erinsnod
For the first time in 10 years, the Student Government Association Senate has unanimously overturned a presidential veto. In fact, they overturned three. On Wednesday, March 20, the nine present senators voted to overturn three pieces of legislation that had been vetoed by Sierra Ambrose, SGA president, last week. Ambrose vetoed an initiative that would start cooperation with Tulane for a Blue Bike station on both campuses, an initiative that would provide collection bins for food products for Iggy’s Cupboard and an initiative that would allocate $1,500 a semester for Iggy’s Cupboard. The president is allowed 72 hours after legislation is passed by the senate to use a veto. Ambrose vetoed all three initiatives within 24 hours of their passage, without talking to any of the initiatives’ authors or Heather Malveaux, director of Iggy’s Cupboard and a member of the Food
Insecurity Committee. “It shouldn’t have had to come to this. It should have been something that was talked out before we got to this process,” Malveaux said after the meeting. “And I’ve expressed that to her, and expressed that to others, and just wish that those of us who did express that to her were heard.” After the meeting, Ambrose admitted that she had been unaware of the 72-hour window until senators brought it up at the senate meeting. “I didn’t even know that I had 72 hours, because that just passed. And as Joann stated before, because she gives updates, but those updates have been less thorough and weren’t clarified to me,” Ambrose said explaining why she took only 24 hours to veto. President’s Explanations The president is also required to explain their veto reasoning to cabinet members at an executive board meeting as well as to the senate as a whole. At the senate meeting, Ambrose
said she vetoed the bin collection initiative due to a simple misunderstanding. She thought temporary bins that had already been set up around residential halls, were actually permanent. Once she spoke to the senator who wrote the legislation, Glory Tomi John, Ambrose encouraged senators to overturn her veto. “You guys can override my veto,” Ambrose said. “I really appreciate you having those boxes.” Next, Ambrose explained her decision to veto the Blue Bike initiative, saying she wanted a more structured implementation plan. She suggested that the bill may be stronger if senators spoke with Tulane SGA and Blue Bike administrators – steps, Kristin Williams, senator-at-large who wrote the initiative, had already taken and spoke about at previous senate meetings. “I find it pretty disheartening that you haven’t been to too many meetings,” Williams said to Ambrose. “I’ve talked about Blue Bikes. So, to all of a sudden have my legislation vetoed, that I worked tirelessly on,
Iggy’s Cupboard located in the basement of the Danna Center provides free food products for students and staff facing food insecurity. Hannah Renton/THE MAROON
is a little disheartening and kind of makes me want to yield back from senate a little.” Ambrose admitted she had not known about Williams’ plan for Blue Bikes and encouraged senators to be thorough in their legislative re-
ports to her. She also apologized for missing senate meetings due to a conflicting class. “I am glad that we are having this conversation,” Ambrose said.
See Veto, page 5
Reichmann and Richardson make plans for next year’s SGA By Rose Wagner rmwagner@my.loyno.edu @rosemwagner
After running uncontested and winning last week’s Student Government Association election with 100 percent of the vote, Jessamyn Reichmann, sociology junior and president-elect, and Freedom Richardson, political science junior and vice president-elect, said they are already strategizing about the year to come. “I think the most important part is actually right now before the summer period, really grabbing all the information from current members, current faculty members and our supervisors,” Reichmann said. Richardson and Reichmann were elected by 231 votes on OrgSync, according to SGA, representing a little over 8 percent of the undergraduate
student population. But Richardson said that their lack of opposition in the election has not affected their determination. “While we faced no formal challenger, I continue to reiterate that we do have formal challenges,” Richardson said SGA Organization The pair campaigned on a threepoint plan focused on the organizational structuring of SGA, campus beautification and utilization, and the development of personal potential. They said that in their first 50 days in office, they plan on setting out a clear list of goals that the student body can hold them accountable to. Richardson, who served this year as a senator-at-large, said that his goals for the first 50 days of overseeing the senate include livestreaming
meetings and ensuring that SGA is following the regulations of the constitution. “Right now the executive branch bylaws as well as the Student Government Association bylaws require that our director of communications reports before the senate each month. It has yet to happen once this semester,” Richardson said. “Still to this day, the administration has yet to report before the senate.” Earlier this semester, Richardson introduced a measure that was recently passed in order to put a timetable on executive decisions and hold the executive branch accountable, standards he said he hopes he and Reichmann are held to next school year. “In the event that something isn’t acted upon in a certain amount of time, it becomes law. In the event that something is vetoed, it requires
the executive branch to report before the senate the following meeting explaining why it failed and how it is we can work forward,” Richardson said.
Richardson said. “A part of that, a deal I brokered with her in order to pass it through the senate because it needed a two-thirds vote, was making sure they were also confirmed.”
Cabinet Appointees The pair received 13 applications for executive positions on their cabinet and Reichmann said they are in the process of speaking with applicants. Executive appointees have to be selected and notified of their positions by April 3 so they have time to go through senate confirmation, a new process that was instituted this spring. “There was this new piece of legislation introduced by Chief Justice Rana (Thabata) to ensure that if cabinet secretaries are fired or relieved of their duties that they can go before the senate if they would like to challenge their dismissal,”
Communication Richardson said that a fundamental change he and Reichmann want to enact is communication both within SGA and between the representative body and its constituents. “So much of what is done is so unknown or hidden in the woodworks and all of that has to change,” Richardson said. “It’s a lack of communication, a lack of strategy” The pair created a transition Instagram account to communicate with the public and they are planning on formulating press releases and increasing the publicity of SGA
See Plans, page 5